(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to single transistor electrically programmable and erasable memory devices.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5067108 discloses an electrically programmable and erasable memory device wherein each cell has a single transistor provided with a floating gate of polycrystalline silicon and a control gate located over a channel region defined by source and drain regions.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a single transistor non-volatile electrically alterable semiconductor memory cell 10. The cell 10 comprises a semiconductor substrate 12, such as silicon. The substrate 12, in one embodiment, can be a P-type silicon substrate with a typical resistivity from 5 to 50 ohm-cm, depending on the level of scaling.
Within the substrate 12 are defined source region 16 and drain region 14 with a channel region 18 therebetween. Disposed over the source region 16, channel region 18, and drain region 14 is a first layer 20 of insulating material, on the order of between about 70-200 Angstroms of thickness. The first layer 20 can be an insulating material made from silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride. Disposed over the first layer 20 is a floating gate 22. The floating gate 22 is positioned over a portion of the channel region 18 and over a portion of the drain region 14. The floating gate 22 can be a polysilicon gate or a re-crystallized polysilicon gate. A second insulating layer 25 has a first portion 24 disposed over the floating gate 22 and a second portion 26 disposed adjacent to the floating gate 22. The first portion 24 (top wall 24) of the second layer 25 is an insulating material and can be silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride and is on the order of between about 1000-3000 Angstroms in thickness. The second portion of the second layer 25 is also of an insulating material and can be silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride and is on the order of 150-2000 angstrom in thickness. A control gate 29 has two portions: A first portion 28 is disposed over the top wall 24 of the second layer 25; a second portion 30 is disposed over the first layer 20 and is immediately adjacent to the side wall 26 of the second layer 25. The second portion 30 of the control gate 29 extends over a portion of the source region 16 and over a portion of the channel region 18.
In general, the dimensions of the cell 10 must be such that electrons emanating from the source region 16 are injected onto the floating gate 22 by sensing the abrupt potential drop. Further, the dimensions of cell 10 must be such that charges from the floating gate 22 are removed by tunneling through the Fowler-Nordheim mechanism through the second layer 25 onto the control gate 29. The particular manner of operating the cell 10 is as follows:
Initially, when it is desired to erase cell 10, a ground potential is applied to the drain 14 and to the source 16. A high-positive voltage, on the order of +15 volts, is applied to the control gate 29. Charges on the floating gate 22 are induced through the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling mechanism to tunnel through the second layer 25 to the control gate 29, leaving the floating gate 22 positively charged.
When selective cells 10 are desired to be programed, a ground potential is applied to the source region 16. A positive voltage level in the vicinity of the threshold voltage of the MOS structure defined by the control gate 29, (on the order of approximately of +1 volt), is applied to the control gate 29. A positive high voltage, on the order of +12 volts, is applied to the drain region 14. Electrons generated by the source region 16 will flow from the source region 16 towards the drain region 14 through a weakly-inverted channel region 18. When the electrons reach the region where the control gate 29 meets the side wall 26, the electrons see a steep potential drop approximately equal to the drain voltage, across the surface region defined by the gap of the side wall 26. The electrons will accelerate and become heated and some of them will be injected into and through the first insulating layer 20 onto the floating gate 22.
The injection of electrons onto the floating gate 22 will continue until the charged floating gate 22 can no longer sustain a high surface potential beneath, to generate hot electrons. At that point, the electrons or the negative charges in the floating gate 22 will "turn off" the electrons from flowing from the source region 16 onto the floating gate 22.
Finally, in a read cycle, ground potential is applied to the source region 16. Conventional transistor read voltage, such as +2 volts and +5 volts, are applied to the drain region 14 and to the control gate 29, respectively. If the floating gate 22 is positively charged (i.e., the floating gate is discharged), then the channel region 18 directly beneath the floating gate 22 is turned on. When the control gate 29 is raised to the read potential, the region of the channel region 18 directly beneath the second portion 30 is also turned on, causing electrical current to flow from the drain region 14 to the source region 16. This would be the "1" state.
On the other hand, if the floating gate 22 is negatively charged, the channel region 18 directly beneath the floating gate 22 is either weakly turned on or is entirely shut off. Even when the control gate 29 and the drain region 14 are raised to the read potential, little or no current will flow through the portion of the channel region 18 directly beneath the floating gate 22. In this case, either the current is very small compared to that of the "1" state or there is no current at all. In this manner, the cell 10 is sensed to be programed at the "0" state.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a memory device 40. The memory device 40 has an array 50 of memory cells. The peripheral circuitry on the device 40 includes conventional row address decoding circuitry 52, column address decoding circuitry 42, sense amplifier circuitry 44, output buffer circuitry 46 and input buffer circuitry 48. These conventional circuits correspond to the peripheral devices of the prior art.
The interconnection of the source, drain and gate of each of the cell 10 to the memory array 50 is as follows: All of the source 16 of each of the memory cell 10 are connected to the other through a common source line. The drain 14 of each of the cell 10 in the same column are connected together. Thus, column 18a has connected thereto the drain from each of the cell 10 in the leftmost column. The plurality of columns 18(a . . . z) are connected to the column address decode 42. The gate 28 of each of the memory cells 10 in the same row are connected together. Thus, the row signal line 62a connects to the gate 28 of each of the memory cells 10 in the uppermost row. The plurality of rows 62(a . . . z) are supplied to the row address decode 52.
In the operation of the memory array 50, in the event erased mode is desired, the plurality of column address lines 18(a . . . z) are all brought to a ground potential. The common source line 16 is also brought to a ground potential. The plurality of row address lines 62(a . . . z) are all brought to a high positive potential, such as +15 volts. In this manner, all of the memory cells 10 in the memory array 50 are erased. When only a selected row of the memory array 50 is to be erased, the particular row address line, e.g., 62m, is raised to a high positive potential, such as +15 volts with the rest of the row addresses at ground potential. In this manner only the memory cells in row 62m are erased.
Thereafter, for selective programming of selected memory cells 10, programming is accomplished as follows: The common source line 16 is again brought to ground potential. The particular row address line 62m, which is connected to the gate 28 of the particular memory cell 10 to be programed is brought to a +1 volt. The unselected row address lines 62(a . . . l,n . . . z) are brought to a ground potential. The column address line 18m of the particular memory cell 10 selected is brought to a high positive potential, such as +12 volts. The unselected column lines 18(a . . . l,n . . . z) are brought to a ground potential.
The voltage supplied to the various contacts of the selected memory cell 10 are as follows: Drain 14 is brought to a +12 volts, source 16 is brought to a ground potential, and gate 28 is brought to +1 volt. This causes programming of the selected memory cell 10, as previously discussed.
The voltage supplied to the unselected memory cell 10 can have the following possible voltage potentials supplied thereto: For all of the memory cells 10 in the selected row 62m, the source 16 is at ground potential, the drain 14 is at ground potential, and the gate is at +1 volt. In this condition, since the drain 14 is at the same potential as the potential of the source 16, electrons will not migrate from the source 16 through the channel region 18, beneath the control gate 29, onto the floating gate 22.
For all the memory cells in the same column 18m as the selected memory cells 10, the voltage potential applied to the various regions are as follows: Source 16 is at ground potential, drain 14 is at +12 volts, the control gate 28 is at ground potential. In this configuration, although the drain 14 is at a higher positive potential than the source 16, there is no induced channel beneath the control gate 28. Thus, there is no flow of electrons from the source 16 to the control gate 28 and through the first insulating layer 20 to the floating gate 22.
Finally, with respect to the memory cells that are not in the same row 62m or in the same column 18m as the selected memory cell 10, the voltage potential applied to the various regions of the memory cell 10 are as follows: Ground potential to the source 16, ground potential to the gate 28 and ground potential to the drain 14. In this configuration, or course, no electron flow occurs at all.
Finally, when a read operation is desired, the common source line 16 is brought to a ground potential. The selected column address line 18m, supplied to the selected memory cell 10, is brought to a +2 volts. The selected row address line 62m, connected to the selected memory cell 10, is brought to a +5 volts. The selected memory cell 10 can thus be read out.
A critical aspect of the aforedescribed memory device is the integrity of the layer 26 over the floating gate 22 of device 10.